A toxic frenemy, a high-stakes cooking competition, a shady preacher, and a kidnapped mom, these are the ingredients of Loved Out, a fearless, fast-paced, female-led South African ‘dramedy’ from Zimbabwean-South African storyteller Tendayi Nyeke. Premiering at Sandton City on 18 September before a nationwide South African release on 26 September 2025, the film promises a whirlwind of laughter, chaos, and heartfelt moments. Zimbabwean audiences will get their turn when it hits cinemas on 28 November 2025.

The story centres on Ruva (Bahumi Mhlongo), a self-styled restaurateur with an Instagram-perfect image but a crumbling reality. When her scandal-prone mother Gloria (Khabonina Qubeka) is kidnapped over church funds that actually belong to a gangster syndicate, Ruva has one week to raise a million rand or lose her. The solution, a deal with her high school nemesis, plunges her into a game of fakes, filters, and frantic survival.

Featuring a cast that includes Tumi Morake, Ayakha Ntunja, Marcus Mabusela, Eliazer Shadung, and the award-winning dance group Khaya Arts, Loved Out is an unapologetic blend of humour, social commentary, and African city glamour. With a soundtrack by Grammy winner Brian Soko alongside Nkosilathi “Niko” Ndlovu and Alessandro Giovanetto, the film’s soundscape is as dynamic as its visuals.

In conversation with My Afrika Magazine (MAM), Nyeke discussed the decade-long journey to bring Loved Out to life, her creative influences, and her hopes for young female filmmakers.

MAM: Loved Out blends comedy, drama, and social commentary with a bold, unapologetic style. What inspired you to tell this story now, and why through such a vibrant, genre-bending lens?
Tendayi Nyeke: I started tinkering with the story idea over a decade ago when I moved to South Africa from my home country, Zimbabwe, and was desperate to tell a story from my unique experience as a Zimbabwean living in South Africa. But I was a young writer, and whenever I pitched the idea, people didn’t get it, because I struggled to articulate it effectively. But there was always the central relationship, of the mother and daughter and the husband and wife, that stuck with people even though the idea was still a seedling. Ten years on, I’ve grown as a storyteller, and during the writer’s strikes in the US, when I moved there for a job that took a while to kick off, the story came back to me, and it just flowed. I had the tools to say what I wanted to say, and it felt like I was experiencing another cycle of economic strain and the pressure that was put on families. So it felt like something not just Zimbabweans could relate to, but anyone who has ever experienced love. As a storyteller and consumer, I gravitate to genres like action, fantasy, and comedy, and so whatever I make is often infused with these undertones. So it was inevitable, Loved Out would be a blend of things. It was fun trying to explain that to the production heads who had to find a way to articulate this blend of approaches, but the lens of comedy grounded everything. And my north star was truthfulness and authenticity, and not just blending things for their own sake. And that helped us create this beautiful piece that feels contemporary, fun, and specific to my voice.

MAM: The film draws from your Zimbabwean roots and South African experiences. How did your personal journey shape the themes and characters in Loved Out?
Tendayi Nyeke: Loved Out draws from real life, of course, heightened, and people in my life around the time I moved to South Africa from my home country, Zimbabwe, where I saw my world crumble at the peak of our economic crisis in the early 2000s. Dreams stalled, and people in love struggled to stay together under the weight of external strain. Like some of the wild and wacky characters in Loved Out, I saw people I loved try to navigate chaos in the best ways they could, but that sometimes meant going inwards and not letting people in, which led to pushing loved ones away, even when not intending to. Some do OK in the chaos, some pretend, but others like me question where they fit in all of it. I put some of these questions and archetypes in the characters you will meet in the film. And Ruva, the film’s protagonist, is an amalgamation of myself and other women in my life who have in the past done whatever it took to never be at the mercy of the uncontrollable by pretending to be invulnerable, so that we can survive. So we can save the people we care about. But we lose those we love when we lose ourselves. Adulting taught me that you’re no use to anyone if you can’t first save yourself. And this is something that not just Zimbabweans possess, but it’s in all of us: to keep going in love and laughter when life gets tough, which is why comedy is a great lens to tell deep character stories, drawn from real things, that we can laugh at in hindsight.

MAM: From a kidnapped mom to a high-stakes cooking competition, the plot is packed with twists. How did you balance the chaos and humour with the deeper messages about identity, resilience, and survival?
Tendayi Nyeke: My brain fires at 120miles a second, so blending genres, world, and tone is something I do all the time. I look at the world and storytelling through the psychological drivers of characters, so emotion is always at the crux of everything I do. But humans are multifaceted. Even the most complex experiences can be seen through the lens of the absurd and comical. Africans in particular always find a way to laugh about something, even if that person is ourselves. And with the talented cast and crew that drew from their own experiences to help me tell this story, this wasn’t a balancing act but rather a heightened portrayal of who we are.

MAM: What else can the audiences expect from Loved Out?
Tendayi Nyeke: Fun, romance, comedy, relationship madness, sweetness, ambition, and hopefully seeing themselves or the people they love or love to hate in these characters. And just an irrelevant but beautiful telling of a Zimbabwean-inspired story full of heart.

MAM: Any special words to aspiring young female filmmakers across Africa?
Tendayi Nyeke: Make stuff. And let’s do it together, across borders and within them. We are enough, build community, bank on yourself, and support those around you. It takes a village to do this stuff. But honestly, don’t neglect the business end of it; being sustainably minded empowers the craft and increases the ability to reach wider audiences. Our stories are valid, let’s tell them, and let’s hold hands in building an ecosystem that can allow us to thrive and continue to make more.

With its fierce humour, fast pace, and unapologetic African flair, Loved Out is more than entertainment, it’s Nyeke’s love letter to resilience, self-preservation, and the messy beauty of life. It’s also a call to embrace the truth behind the filters, to laugh in the face of chaos, and to tell our own stories before someone else does. We are proud to celebrate the African narratives, by our own.